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Looks like Colorado grew by about 5% from 2013 to 2016. That would reduce the size of the effect, but it's still huge. Also important is that 2013 was a nation

Looks like Colorado grew by about 5% from 2013 to 2016. That would reduce the size of the effect, but it's still huge. Also important is that 2013 was a national low in fatal traffic accidents, rates have been higher on average since. Still, the Colorado increase is outsized.

lawnchair_larry 9y ago
That's still quite a leap, considering the variability of traffic accident statistics. For example a good winter storm can cause hundreds of (non-fatal) accidents on its own, and storm patterns are highly inconsistent from year to year. I mean, imagine what kind of "scary link" you could find by looking at any changes made in the state of Louisiana in 2005 and forgetting to account for Hurricane Katrina. Has there been an increase in tourism? Specifically, folks from neighboring states coming to buy marijuana? Does it correlate with an increasing snapchat-using demographic reaching driving age? Another CDOT official believes distracted driving is causing the surge: http://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/31/colorado-roadway-fatalities-surge-2016/ http://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/31/colorado-roadway-fatali... (Yet the article seems to spend more time talking about a decrease in seatbelt usage, which would also boost the fatality stat) What do other states that legalized at the same time report? Washington says despite the national average going up, crashes there went down. They credit themselves for being strict on distracted driving. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/traffic-deaths-up-nationwide-down-slightly-in-washington-state/ http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/traf... Junk article really, most likely to be abused as a political tool by people who don't understand stats.